skippy the bush kangaroo

Thursday, July 31, 2003

issa gonna disagree with that

thanks to the ever lovely cursor.org, we found this chart at the even lovelier ugga bugga, comparing and contrasting claims made by the man-who-would-be governor of california daryl issa, with actual facts, as reported by the latimes.

interesting stretching of the truth (but then again, he's a repubbblican, what do you expect?)

the army times reports that convicted felon and mastermind behind the terrorism stock market is slated to resign "in the next few weeks," reports the nytimes.

while defense secretary donald h. rumsfeld did not personally dismiss admiral poindexter, the defense official said, mr. rumsfeld agreed that the admiral's credibility was shot and it was time for him to go.

too bad it was just his credibility. the times continues:

the current furor centered on an initiative called policy analysis market. under the plan, traders were to be able to begin registering on friday to trade futures on developments in the middle east as of oct. 1 on a web site of the policy analysis market, which the pentagon was operating with private partners.

we are pleased to add the blue bus by the lizard queen to our permanent blog roll. the lq is a lady after our own hearts, and you'll enjoy her blog immensely.

we are also adding the petition to boycott espn because of rush limbaugh to our permanent features on our sidebar, right under the dixie chicks (it's probably the closest rush has come to getting any in a long time). please take time to go sign the petition.

if you're going to participate in the discussion, listen to what is said

one of skippy's readers from the right, person of choler [ed. note: we don't get it, either], left a comment on the report about veterans' facilities being cut tomorrow.

it seems only yesterday that, to the left, veterans were rice paddy poisoning baby napalmers. now you're gooey with solicitude for our well being.

call me cynical, but i suspect that your new found interest in veterans' problems has a lot more to do with your dislike of george bush than any tender feelings for ex-military. any stick will do to beat a dog, as they say.

we guess you only read our blog when you feel like lefty bashing, person. if you were a regular reader of our blog, you would know our position on several things.

first of all, we have always supported the troops. even back, as you say, "it seemed like only yesterday" when veterans were baby napalmers. (if yesterday was 30 years ago, you might have a point). however even then, when we was against the viet nam war, we was in favor of the soldiers, because we know they are only grunts doing their job.

second of all, we’ve always differentiated between the brave men and women who put their lives on the line for this country, and the cowards back home in office who have never served a day in their lives, who are dictating the political agenda. two different set of people there. awol failed to serve his tour of duty, he is a coward and a criminal for that act alone. we will not even get into cheney and wolfowitz. the men and women who are dying (over 200 since bush declared "mission accomplished") in iraq deserve the respect of this country. they've got mine.

third, since the repubbblicans are the ones who cut the benefits to veterans, they are guilty of hypocrisy in the extreme, because "supporting the troops" means more than flag waving. it means support, emotional and financial support, for the human beings, not just the oil agenda.

fourth, skippy comes from a military family. his father proudly served aboard a submarine in the pacific theater in world war ii. his sister, his aunt who lived with the family, and both men who married his two sisters were in the military. skippy himself had a congential heart defect and was rated 4-f, and could not serve. but that does not mean skippy doesn't know about honor, commitment, love of country, duty and loyalty. it's the repubbblicans that have trouble with these concepts.

what are the democrats doing to improve the veterans administration? since you obviously didn't read the post, we'll repeat it for you.

one lawmaker clearly worried is rep. gregory w. meeks, d-n.y., who tried without success to get language attached to the 2004 veterans’ appropriations bill preventing the st. albans veterans facility in queens, n.y., from being closed. the 386-bed facilities provides inpatient and outpatient care, including extended care for veterans who cannot easily be placed in nursing homes. meeks’ amendment that would have prevented the hospital from being closed was defeated by voice vote july 25 during debate on the funding bill.

but, that's right, you don't count democrats fighting for their constituents. the dems either have to fix the entire problem right away, or they are no good. as opposed to the repubbblicans, who are cutting the funding to the veterans benefits? how does that make the dems worse than the repubbblicans? even if you did have logic there, we fail to see it.

by the way, person of choler, what branch of the military did you serve in?

and in an interesting development, the u.s. military admits to killing civilians in the baghdad raid while searching for saddam hussein, reports msnbc.

four days after u.s. troops killed several passers-by in baghdad during the hunt for saddam hussein, the u.s. commander in iraq admitted on thursday that innocent people had died, but stopped short of accepting blame…

angry neighbours accused the task force 20 special unit hunting saddam's inner circle of failing to block all the side roads leading to a house they were raiding on sunday in baghdad's upscale mansour neighbourhood. when a car strayed into the fire zone, soldiers blasted it with machineguns.

u.s. soldiers and medical staff at a nearby hospital told reuters five men, including a teenager, were killed.

reader larry rubinow writes to correct a mis-statement we made earlier concerning the veterans' hospital here in los angeles:

"westwood, ca" is a small town in lassen county, about 500 miles from bakersfield. "westwood" is a neighborhood in the city of los angeles...i grew up in west los angeles and westwood (the neighborhood), and attended ucla. westwood was a fine place then, and may still be (though i have my doubts; in my youth, it was still possible for a middle-class family to purchase a decent house there). but i stand firm in my belief that a state shouldn't have two cities with the same name. hence, "westwood, ca" is in the shadow of mt. lassen, and "westwood" is in the shadow of the mormon temple.

we stand corrected, larry! by the way, westwood, the neighborhood (the one with the veterans' hospital), still is a fine place! great movie theaters, great restaurants, great coeds in shorts this time of year!

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

except for actual support, that is. the army times tells us about the concern over friday's upcoming announcement about which va facilities will be closed.

an independent commission that has been studying the department of veterans affairs health care system is expected to recommend closing seven or eight hospitals and downsizing a dozen others, according to congressional sources who have been briefed on the plan.

readers of this space might remember skippy's veteran friend who told the story of the blind vet in bakersfield who has to ride the bus 90 miles to westwood, ca, to obtain medical services now. and it looks like it will get worse for our vets:

one lawmaker clearly worried is rep. gregory w. meeks, d-n.y., who tried without success to get language attached to the 2004 veterans’ appropriations bill preventing the st. albans veterans facility in queens, n.y., from being closed. the 386-bed facilities provides inpatient and outpatient care, including extended care for veterans who cannot easily be placed in nursing homes. meeks’ amendment that would have prevented the hospital from being closed was defeated by voice vote july 25 during debate on the funding bill.

we are about half way through tom tomorrow's newest tome, the great big book of tomorrow. what can we say, except it's full of his usual hilarious irony (or is that ironous hilarity?), his astute insight, political jabs and social commentary.

the good news is, if you read money magazine or watch abc news, consumer confidence is up modestly.

the bad news is, if you read or watch anything else in the world, consumer confidence is down sharply.

yahoo reports that the consumer confidence index, the one everyone actually considers important, dropped 7 points in july, from 83.5 to 76.6. this is especially disheartening because analysts expected a 1.5 increase. of course, those analysts actually had jobs, and really weren't clued into reality:

the rising level of unemployment and sentiment that a turnaround in labor market conditions is not around the corner have contributed to deflating consumers' spirits this month," said lynn franco, director of the conference board's consumer research center. "expectations are likely to remain weak until the job market becomes more favorable."

and why do we care how confident consumers are?

economists closely monitor consumer confidence because consumers spending makes up for two-thirds of all economic activity in the united states and has been a key element in keeping the struggling economy afloat.

but if you're a republican, or sam donaldson, or anyone else in denial, you may want to read forbes.com, which reports that the abc/money magazine consumer confidence index actually rose slightly last week:

the abc news/money magazine consumer comfort index rose to -17 in the week ended july 27, near its firmest levels of the year, compared to -21 in the previous week.

not literally, though we can dream can't we? the blog for america reports that they raised $508,640 over the weekend for dr. dean's campaign...more than double their stated goal, and twice what cheney was expected to dick in his $1000 a hot dog fundraiser luncheon today at the very exclusive rich white man's club.

cheney ''does it with people who get plaques for raising $100,000. (dean's supporters) are regular people -- students, retirees -- who give $50,'' [dean campaign manager joe] trippi said. ''if george bush is running against that, it's not a left-wing thing or a right-wing thing, but people participating in their democracy. people don't want to believe that about us, but we'll just keep talking about it -- and proving it -- until they do.''

in post after post, dean's staff took the opportunity to answer dean's skeptics, who doubt a former governor of vermont can beat the popular, well-funded president: "this is how you will defeat george w. bush in november of 2004," aides wrote.

reader amy, who describes herself as "an excellent lurker," sent us a link to a fine blog, arms and the man. major barbara posts articles, links and musings exclusively about who's making money off of the war in iraq, an interesting approach, and, unfortunately, one that has a wide depth of field.

we think mr. hope would approve of skippy's reason for not being able to write a eulogy upon the venerable comedian's passing yesterday...skippy was busy working in the recording studio on a comedy show during the day, and then he was at a script reading for a producer last night. but rest assured that upon hearing that bob hope died at the age 100, skippy and his entire staff stopped and said a silent joke in honor of america's favorite funny man.

bob hope's movies, especially the early ones in the 40's and 50's, were some of skippy's favorites. the road pictures, my favorite spy, my favorite brunette, casanova, ghostbreakers, all hilarious examples of impeccable timing, rapid-fire jokes and a certain physical grace.

bob was a dancer as well as a comedian, or more accurately, a hoofer; he cut his performing teeth in vaudeville, at a time when being a performer meant doing it all: singing and dancing as well as telling jokes.

and, it is skippy's humble opinion that bob hope was a pioneer in the goofy-break-the-fourth-wall-admit-we're-in-a-movie dynamic that the zuker brothers and many others take for granted today.

aside from the movies, bob was a master of every other medium america had to offer: the stage (on the road in little american towns on the circuit as well as the bright lights of broadway), radio, and of course, television.

but you can't mention bob hope without talking about his dedication to the military of this great country of ours. for years he would pack up as many hollywood stars as he could fit into a trunk and go entertain america's fighting men and women on the front lines, wherever they might be, including the first gulf war. unlike some people we could name, bob was not afraid to put himself in harm's way, or at least really close to it, to show his support for his troops.

skippy had the extreme honor of meeting bob once, many years ago, after skippy warmed up an audience for a british television show filiming in hollywood, on which bob was a special guest star. it is with great pride, as well as great sadness, that we say goodbye to bob hope, an american institution.

readers of this space know we have never been big fans of "all the leaves are brown and the sky is" gray davis. but not for any of the reasons former thiefand gun nut/millionaire darrell issa has acused him of.

we believe the energy crisis was a repubbblican de-regulation fiasco, and even if davis made stupid and expensive agreements because of it, blaming him for it is like blaming your dad for the arson just because he put the family up in the hilton after somebody set fire to the house. and, after, all, if turning a budget surplus into a deficit is reason for recall, why aren't the california repubblicans demanding awol's resignation?

that being said, we are of two minds about the current recall election that has been forced upon the citizens of the golden state. we are tired of repubbblicans subverting democracy with money. they dumped enough cash into the system to impeach clinton, they forced a run-off in florida (complete with faux grass roots demonstrations) to pass the decision up to the repubbblican supreme court, and now they didn't like the results of the last california gubernatorial race, so they paid some half-wits to bother people coming out of the albertson's grocery stores to sign a petition (a buck a name is the rumored price).

on the other hand, gray davis is a schmuck who is more concerned about raising funds than actually governing. if richard riodan runs, we will probably vote for him.

unless arnold schwartzenegger runs, thus assuring the entertainment tonight vote of the majority of dumb people who don't know any other name on the ballot, the repubblicans might find themselves diluting each others constituencies. bill simon and tom mcclintock (who is campaigning heavily against davis' increase in motor vehicle registration fee hikes) are making noises about entering the race, and we predict whoever wins, issa will come in dead last.

hammerdown deconstructs cheney's speech to the american institute of rich white guys earlier this week.

we agree with liberal oasis...the greens are not the problem, and screeching at them only makes dems look wonky.

we don't read lean left as much as we should...kevin constantly finds bits of news and gives insightful commentary that you can't find anywhere else...witness this piece about gephardt missing a vote on dismantling headstart...which passed by one vote.

lambert on eschaton writes about the administration warning military wives to "shut up" about the war.

talkleft tells us jack kemp is not going to run in the recall election against gray davis.

and, the hamster is on vacation this weekend. lucky guy! have fun, eric!

Saturday, July 26, 2003

no benefit in pissing off the vets

as readers of this space may remember, skippy has a good friend who is a veteran with some health problems. this friends spends a lot of time at the veterans' hospital in westwood, california, usually waiting to see a doctor. so this friend has a lot of time to talk to his fellow veterans.

and, as we have reported, there is a rising feeling of anger among the veterans towards awol and the repubbblicans for cutting back on benefits and health services to our men and women in uniform. skippy's friend tells the story of the blind man who has to ride a bus from bakersfield to westwood (an almost 100 mile trip), because all the vet medical facilities inbetween have been shut down.

normally republican, many retired veterans are mad that bush and the republican-controlled congress are blocking remedies to two problems with health and pension benefits. they say they feel particularly betrayed by bush, who appealed to them in his 2000 campaign, and who vowed on the eve of his inauguration that "promises made to our veterans will be promises kept."

"he pats us on the back with his speeches and stabs us in the back with his actions," said charles a. carter of shawnee, okla., a retired navy senior chief petty officer. "i will vote non-republican in a heart beat if it continues as is."

"i feel betrayed," said raymond c. oden jr., a retired air force chief master sergeant now living in abilene, texas.

many veterans say they will not vote for bush or any republican in 2004 and are considering voting for a democrat for the first time. others say they will sit out the election, angry with bush and republicans but unwilling to support democrats, whom they say are no better at keeping promises to veterans. some say they will still support bush and his party despite their ire.

aside from the dishonorable weaseling of ignoring the men and women who faithfully served this country, awol risks losing a usually-large voting block in 2004.

we are very sorry to report that in addition to the three u.s. troops killed while guarding a children's hospital in the city of baquba today (which we reported earlier), a fourth was killed and two more wounded when their convoy in baghdad was attacked, says reuters.

the attack occurred on highway 10 near abu ghuraib on saturday afternoon. the soldiers were with an engineer unit attached to the 3rd infantry division, u.s. central command said in a statement.

two soldiers were evacuated to the 28th combat support hospital for emergency treatment where one subsequently died and the other is in stable condition, the statement said.

sen. charles schumer, in a letter to fbi director robert mueller, is calling for an official investigation into the "outing" of joe wilson's cia covert operative wife valerie plame, allegedly by senior administration officials, according to newsday.

schumer, a democrat, said fbi director robert mueller has an obligation to determine who divulged the identity of valerie plame, the wife of former ambassador joseph wilson, and "whether any higher-ups were involved."

wilson sparked the uranium intelligence controversy when he questioned president george w. bush's now discredited state of the union claim that iraq was shopping for uranium, a nuclear bomb ingredient.

…robert novak, a washington columnist, identified plame as an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction in a july 14 column. wilson has since charged that the disclosure was part of an intimidation campaign to silence him and others.

cbs.com editorial director dick meyer, in his editorial "george w. nixon," likens what happened to wilson and his wife to tricky dick's "enemies list" and the creeps at c.r.e.e.p.

the blog for america is setting a challenge for those dean supporters out in blogtopia (y!wctp!). it seems that awol/cheney is expected to raise $250,000 on monday, july 28, at some rich boy sky box $1000-a-hot-dog luncheon or something. the blog for america is asking all you kids out there to try to match that, or at least put on a damn good show, by contributing to dr. dean this weekend.

and, actually, considering awol wipes his butt with hundred dollar bills, dr. dean's supporters are doing pretty good. as of noon real time on saturday, the blog for america reports a total of $130,572.50 raised. that's right. more than half of what awol/cheney is expected to pick up.

(the total figure reminds us of the old old joke: "who gave fifty cents?" "they all did!")

the war that keeps on giving part three dead while guarding children's hospital

3 more u.s. troops were killed, and four wounded, in a grenade attack north east of baghdad, says abc news.

a grenade attack saturday killed three u.s. soldiers and wounded four as they guarded a children's hospital northeast of baghdad, scuttling hopes a widespread guerrilla insurgency might lose strength after the deaths of saddam hussein's elder sons.

abc claims that the deaths have brought the total number of troops killed "in action" to 161 since the start of the war. lunaville, who counts all deaths, including those from non-hostile action (ie, accidents, friendly fire, and suicide) puts the total number dead at a much higher 242.

abc also says that guerilla attacks on u.s. troops are averaging at about 12 a day.

Friday, July 25, 2003

bloggy mountain high...colorado....

pardon our bad john denver imitation, but we are pleased as punch that our good friend talkleft got mentioned as a colorado blogger in the denver magazine 5280. we are also happy to see vodkapundit, one of the right wing blogs with enough class to link to us, also mentioned.

readers of this space may recall that skippy is originally from colorado, and his heart still belongs to the front plains spreading out before the rockies as they rise high into the air (specifically, aurora, colorado. yay, hinkley t-birds!)

a british diver, clearing mines off the coast of iraq for the u.s., has died, according to ananova.

peter rudorf, 25, from salisbury, wiltshire, was part of a team working for the united states government clearing routes for ships into the port of umm qasr.

an employee of sub-surface engineering ltd, based in fareham, hampshire, he had been contracted as part of the project to make the port safe for ships, including those bringing humanitarian aid, to dock.

he was diving in front of dredgers moving debris and equipment from the waters.

it is not known exactly how he died last week but the company said in a statement: "sub-surface ltd is deeply upset over the death of peter rudorf during work in southern iraq."

our reader and good friend rose sends us yet another example of people losing their microphone opportunities after making remarks about awol, this one from the fredericksburg free lance star:

a baltimore acoustic artist has been banned from playing the fredericksburg borders books & music store--apparently because she made fun of president bush's legs between songs in her show friday night at central park.

julia rose, a singer-songwriter and a fitness advocate who often shows audiences her six-pack abs, told a fredericksburg borders audience friday: "george bush has chicken legs. he needs to pump some iron."

although most of the audience laughed, but a few people complained to the management, who banned rose from performing at that borders, although she will be allowed to play other borders stores in the area.

we agree with the articles summation:

it's debatable whether president bush has thin legs, but it seems certain that borders sees fredericksburg as having very thin skin.

bill thomas, the man who tried to arrest all the democrats in the house of representatives, admits that his calling the capitol police last week was "just plain stupid," according to capitol hill blue.

fighting back tears, thomas declared in a speech on the house floor that he agreed his action was "just plain stupid."

"as my mother would have put it, 'when they were passing out moderation, you were hiding behind the door,' " said thomas, his shoulders shaking with emotion.

and then reader rose sends us a story from the balitmore sun about a 62 year old man who was fired as hosting of a concert series he founded for dissing awol during one of the shows:

working with friends in the folk music scene, max ochs co-founded a summer concert series at quiet waters park in annapolis eight years ago. he has played host ever since, volunteering his saturdays to introduce bands, strum a guitar and read poetry during intermission to an audience of hundreds.

but after ochs made what anne arundel county officials say were intemperate remarks about president bush at a concert july 12, the county told the 62-year-old former civil rights activist his services were no longer needed.

the "intemperate remarks"?

by all accounts, ochs told the audience that "our leader" was one of the few americans who dislike reading. he wondered aloud whether the pauses in bush's speeches reflected an inability to follow words on the teleprompter.

the three american soldiers who died today were members of the 101st airborne division, the same division that killed uday and qusay hussein on tuesday during a four-hour gun battle at a house in the northern iraqi city of mosul.

the americans were traveling in a convoy toward qayyarah, a city near mosul, when they came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, the united states central command said. no soldiers were reported wounded.

so much for plan b...

(for those keeping count, the number of u.s. troops killed in iraq after awol announced "mission accomplished" is now only 40 less than the number killed in the war preceeding his tom cruise imitation).

wistv.com reports two more us soldiers killed, one in mosul, one in ramadi.

two more american soldiers have been killed in iraq. they died in attacks on two convoys.

a military spokesman says a roadside bomb went off on the outskirts of mosul, destroying a vehicle in the convoy. six other soldiers were hurt. mosul is the city where saddam hussein's two sons were killed in a firefight tuesday.

the other convoy was attacked late tuesday night in the city of ramadi, west of baghdad. one soldier was killed and two were wounded.

we ask ourselves, how can a repubbblican get away with destroying a link in our national security? if a democrat (or a stupid war correspondent who likes to open chicago gangsters' vaults) were to even mention the position of troops in iraq, there would be hell to pay. and yet novak calmly puts ms. plame's career, if not life, in jeapordy, for political motivations.

a soldier attached to the 3rd armored cavalry regiment was killed and one was wounded when their vehicle convoy was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire in an ambush at approximately 9 a.m. july 22 on the road between balad and ar ramadi.

the number of u.s. soldiers killed in iraq since the day the statue died is now one less than the number killed in the major conflict before the fall of baghdad.

the staff at skippy saw the news this morning about us forces killing saddam's two sons, and it was pretty well decided amongst us that this would be a pr coup for awol. in fact, wolf "how's my beard" blitzer said on cnn, some remark about how this would dominate the news for a while and shove off every other story, including, and we are quoting a journalist here, "even kobe bryant." [ed. note: (vomiting noises)].

we were therefor sorry to see a story that had the potential to put awol back on top in the polls, or at least make the talking heads forget about things like personal responsibility and telling the country the truth before sending their sons and daughters off to get killed.

imagine our delight when, at 7 pm eastern, 4 pm real time, as faux news and cnn were hawking the killing of a 14 year old in mosul as the greatest thing since blue dress stains, we tuned to tweety bird on msnbc, and found, lo and behold, discussions about the niger lie, awol's dropping numbers, ducking responsibility and, in general, a continuation of last week's negative news.

done? all right, we continue: say what you will about chris matthews, he has been steadily on this story and not backing down, and surprise, surprise, he doesn't take the repubbblican line. he, along with 52% of america, is starting to see that awol is a pompous jerk who refuses to believe that he could be wrong.

and, wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, over on cnbc, brian williams was opening his newscast with more on the shaggy dog story. the saddam's sons sinking into the sunset piece was later on in the newscast. amazing!

sam heldman, lawyer and blogger extraordinaire, has been blogging for about a year. and, as he admittedly is older and wiser now, sam finds himself less inclined to spout off about one thing or another, than when he was a hot-headed youth of how-ever-old-he-is-today-minus-one-year-ago.

therefore, he points out, that he will be blogging on ignatz at a slower, more erractic pace than before. but sam is quick to point out this is not a hiatus (he insists he doesn't have ted barlow disease), and only a lessening of his need to rant.

and, alas, we must give our apologies to reader alex kulczycki, who sent us a hilarious parody of the dixie chicks' "goodbye earl" entitled "goodbye george." however, we live in today's environment of government reprisals for the slightest disagreement.

therefore, we are a bit hesitant to publish anything that indicates violence, however subtle (and poison is the subtlest of all violence, that's what they say on csi!) against the pretender to the throne in dc.

we got another email from moveon.org, this time asking for money to help publish ads calling for an investigation into the uranium-iraq-niger shaggy dog story.

last wednesday, the senate voted along party lines against authorizing an independent commission. it's becoming increasingly clear that republicans want to bury this issue. in doing so, they're placing their own partisan interests ahead of the safety and security of the country. we need to tell them that that's just plain wrong. that's why we're launching a series of newspaper ads around the country that call on members of congress who haven't pledged to support a commission to place truth over politics.

we'll need to raise about $225,000 to make a real impact. we can do that if we all contribute -- $5 or $500. you can view the ad, see where it's running, and give to make it happen at: moveon.org contribute to local wmd ads.

another u.s. soldier was killed in baghdad today, and three others wounded, according to the dod defense link.

an attack in baghdad today killed one soldier from the 1st armored division and wounded three others at roughly 10:30 a.m. local time. the attack also killed an iraqi interpreter working with the coalition. a u.s. central command news release said the troops were in a vehicle that hit an "improvised explosive device" in the as sulaykh district. the soldiers then came under small-arms fire.

various agencies now put the total number of americans dead in iraq at various numbers. our favorite source, lunaville, has the tally at 115 since the day the statue died. however, they list 93 dead since awol proclaimed "mission accomplished" on may 1st, while the boston globe counts the number at 95.

you know blogs have made it into the mainstream when...dear abby gives some advice to a young blogger in her regular column.

a reader writes to ms. van buren:

dear abby: i am a 14-year-old girl about to start my freshman year in high school. most of my friends (including myself) have web logs -- or "blogs."

...i have several friends who have stopped speaking to each other after reading not-so-nice things about themselves in the blogs. i speak from experience, because i've been repeatedly bashed for my anti-war views, among other things.

[ed. note: join the club, kid!]

in spite of this, the web log trend continues to be popular. what's your opinion on this? -- bloggin' and lovin' it in new jersey

abby, who is nothing if not on top of what the kids are into these days, responds:

dear bloggin': the written word takes on a life of its own and never dies -- particularly in cyberspace. that is why it's important that a person carefully consider what he or she is posting before making it public. i cannot urge people strongly enough to remember that on the internet there is no such thing as an eraser. the messages live on and on for all to see.

but there is a delete button, abby. look into it.

however, we began to wonder if this would start a trend, with other bloggers writing to the venerable advice columnist. hmmmmm (screen goes all wavy, indicating a fantasy sequence)...

dear abby:

eugene volokh caught the left in another lie with damningly accurate criticism, yet they refuse to acquiesce and let bush be bush. what gives?

signed, ticked off in tennessee

dear ticked off:

wake up and smell the coffee! your so-called "friends" on the left are not going to change their minds or their blogs. it's better to be yourself on your own blog, than to try to convince the whole world that you are right. remember, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!

the problem with search engines is that they aren't that smart. witness the findlaw lawcrawler which found our blog in response to a query for references about marshall v. barlows, inc. (and lawcrawler heard skippy international inc. talking about josh marshall and ted barlow).

the associated press is reporting (a day after we did) that judicial watch obtained papers from dick cheney's energy task force that includes maps of iraq's oil fields and possible foreign buyers for same oil.

based on what respondents to the pharos-tribune sound off line have either seen, heard or read, most say the president lied to the american people in his state of the union address this year when he emphasized the reasons for invading iraq. some even said bush's speech misled the country so much, he should be impeached.

[former cia analyst raymond] mcgovern says many in the intelligence community feel they're taking the heat for the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in iraq and for the uproar over the president's state of the union speech -- despite warnings from intelligence officials to some in the administration that the case against saddam hussein's weapons programs was far from air-tight.

and an interesting note from that cbs report:

this is not the first time the united states has gone to war based on facts that later turned out to be questionable. almost 40 years ago, president johnson pointed to unconfirmed reports of attacks on american ships in the gulf of tonkin to convince the congress to widen the war in vietnam

their [republican political organizations] underlying message, however, is that questioning the president is somehow unpatriotic because it puts our brave fighting men and women at risk.

we don’t see it that way. the right to question and the right to object are the very rights our troops are fighting for, and if the exercise of those rights troubles our soldiers, they’ve missed the point. democracy, whether on the streets of portsmouth or baghdad, depends on the right to dissent.

brett bursey's lawyers field a motion last friday requesting documents from the federal government and the state of south carolina, in hopes of bolstering the case that mr. bursey was arrested to silence his protest, rather than for any safety issues, according to the atlanta journal constitution.

mr. bursey, you will recall, was arrested in the columbia airport while holding a "no blood for oil sign" in an area in which awol was expected to arrive.

the journal-constitution says his lawyer, lewis pitts, cites in his motion a similar case from michigan where a student was arrested after refusing to put down an anti-awol sign.

in his motion, pitts wants the secret service and the state law enforcement division to turn over security plans for bush's visits to south carolina in march, august and october of 2002. they also want all memos, e-mails or other notes concerning bursey.

pitts said a sled agent gave a signed statement saying agents discussed that bursey was planning to protest the president's visit and asked one agent to make sure he was sent to an area a half-mile away from bush.

to bolster his argument, pitts included parts of a transcript from a michigan state trial where a college student was arrested for trespassing after he refused to put down a sign critical of bush.

in the transcript, a police captain said the secret service told him to move anyone protesting the president away from areas near where bush would speak.

as always, we will keep you up to date on mr. bursey's progress. (a big thanks to lambert at eschaton for alerting us to this new development!)

our faithful reader tekflower found an interesting article in the uk independent. it seems one of the unforseen consequences of global snottiness is repercussions in the corporate boardrooms (and profits) of good ol' ameircan companies...

but what if american products have started to stand for something else? such as bullying imperialism or intolerance of the rest of the world's problems?

…this is indeed what corporate america has been asking itself, and now it may have the first inkling of an answer. according to a report just completed by the new york consulting firm roperasw, the value of america's favourite brands abroad is showing unmistakable signs of slippage. for now, at least, it is just possible that selling a product inextricably linked with uncle sam and the stars and stripes may be more of a liability than a boon.

on a broader level, this is the obvious problem with orthadox religious-based social intercourse of any kind, be it global-political, or just standing in a line at a bank.

(by "orthodox" we don't mean a specific sect, but a particular mindset, and we've all seen it, thus: "my beliefs are not only right, they are the only way to look at the world and god and humankind's place in the universe, as well as how to go to school and eat lunch and dress and watch tv and things like that. and every body else is not only wrong, they are all damned to hell until and unless they agree with me. and i have every right to shout it loud and clear all the time, and if you disagree, you are suppressing my right to religious freedom, you heathen you.")

see, that's the sort of attitude that just turns people off. we are always amazed when born-again wacko's [ed. note: not all born agains are wacko's, nor are all wacko's born agains] cry that people are "bashing" christianity. well, why not? christianity, at least their brand of it, doesn't just bash other people, it damns them to eternal hell of torment just because they don't agree. shouldn't you expect a little "bashing" in return? and gosh, we're betting that of the two, you'd rather be "bashed" than "damned." at least, we would.

so it should be no suprise at all that our perceived (and real) holier-than-thou attidues make the rest of the world in general want to boycot american products. america used to be a place to look up to, a place to want to go to. and not because of the running water, and britny spears, and rolex watches and paved roads and who wants to marry my dad and spongebob squarepants. those are only material representations of wealth, and gee, doesn't some famous old book say something about moneychangers and camels in the eye of the needle and stuff?

and now, even those representations of wealth mean very little to the rest of the world. again, from the independent:

of the top 10 global us-based firms, only one saw an increase in its brand-power compared with a year earlier. all of the others were either unchanged, which is bad enough, or in negative territory. this is the fifth year that the same survey has been carried out. and 2003 is the first time that american companies have seen their brand-power starting to sink. by contrast, the survey shows gains for the best-known non-us brands.

no, america was looked up to by every other country in the world because it was the land of the free. the place to be whatever you could muster yourself into, without fear of reprisal. but folks, nobody thinks it's that way any more. it's the land of the shut up and buy, and then pray, in that order. it's the land of the boycott the chicks if they disagree with bush. it's the land of the fbi will question you about your reading material. it's the land of the no more paper trails to count your vote. again, the independent:

the advertising agency mccann-erickson recently sent a memo to its us clients advising them to rethink their marketing approaches and, above all, to avoid trying to "wrap their brands" in the american flag, while trying to stress local roots in the markets for which they were aiming. the war, the agency said, risked "tarnishing the reputation of american culture and the mythic 'american dream', which has long drawn consumers around the world to the united states to live, work or visit".

a lot of places don't find american culture any more free than their own these days (just ask the iraqi's about their free elections). so why be amazed that america is no longer looked up to, but rather down upon?

the state department found the shaggy dog story 'dubious,' says the chisun-times:

the [recently released classified] document cites ''compelling evidence'' of such a program--but it also reflects prewar divisions within the u.s. intelligence community, including a state department dismissal of reports that saddam hussein was shopping for uranium ore in africa as ''highly dubious.''

and, the cia did not vet the shaggy dog story, according to the washpost:

the white house, in the run-up to war in iraq, did not seek cia approval before charging that saddam hussein could launch a biological or chemical attack within 45 minutes, administration officials now say.

even worse, awol made the claim in other places than the sotu speech, and with bigger exaggerations:

for example, the same rose garden speech and sept. 28 radio address that mentioned the 45-minute accusation also included blunt assertions by bush that "there are al qaeda terrorists inside iraq." this claim was highly disputed among intelligence experts; a group called ansar al-islam in kurdish-controlled northern iraq and jordanian abu musab zarqawi, who could have been in iraq, were both believed to have al qaeda contacts but were not themselves part of al qaeda.

secretary of state colin powell appears to be the only white house official who questioned the accuracy of the intelligence information coming out of the office of special plans. a day before he was set to appear before the united nations feb. 5…powell omitted numerous claims provided to him by the office of special plans about iraq’s weapons program because the information was unreliable, according to an early february report in u.s. news and world report.

imams of the sunni mosques in baghdad yesterday launched a campaign against the transitional iraqi governing council calling on iraqis not to recognize it and to reject its decisions, while a commission for their scholars criticized the "sectarian and ethnic" composition of the council which "gives a certain sect a majority at the expense of the iraqi people group and without a referendum."

an influential shiite muslim cleric condemned iraq's u.s-picked governing council as made up of "non-believers" and vowed to create a rival body, as his followers in a historic mosque shouted "death to america."

“i always feel like i’m a target,” says spc. anthony gisi, standing in a humvee behind the most powerful weapon these soldiers have to defend themselves — a mounted .50-caliber machine gun. “kind of feel like bait up here in the gunner’s hatch.”

the two u.s. soldiers died when rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire struck their convoy early sunday near tal afar, a town west of the northern city of mosul, said military spokesman cpl. todd pruden. another soldier was injured. all the victims were from the 101st airborne division.

it's full of fruits and nuts, and if you didn't see that one coming, you'd better start learning braille!

in yet another piece of evidence that the democrats are actually growing spines these days, there was a terrible brawl full of name calling and actual summoning of the police on capital hill yesterday.

the repubbblicans, lead by chairman bill thomas, tried to get a draft of pension bill passed without letting the democrats either (a) time to read the bill or (b) time to discuss it.

the dems went into a back room to talk things over amongst themselves, leaving rep. pete stark to stave off a unanimous repubbblican vote.

both thomas and stark are from california, and both are not known for their ability to play well with others. things got dicey, according to the boston globe:

in the main committee room, stark insisted that the bill be read word for word, a rare tactic that would give his democratic colleagues in the back room time to discuss their strategy. the bill's reading infuriated republicans, eager to vote and leave town for the weekend.

according to the democrats' version of events, thomas's staff summoned a capitol police officer, who told them that a ''disturbance'' had been reported and ordered the democrats to leave the back room. the democrats refused to budge.

according to the republicans, thomas called the police because he feared that stark would get into a fight with representative scott mcinnis, republican of colorado, a former police officer 21 years stark's junior.

[ed. note: what the globe fails to clairfy is that mcinnis is 50. do the math, that makes stark, the man he was physically afraid of, 71 years old.]

a transcript of the committee meeting quoted stark as belittling thomas's intellect. although the transcript does not show it, mcinnis interjected, ''shut up.'' the transcript then shows stark saying: ''you think you are big enough to make me, you little wimp? come on. come over here and make me. i dare you, you little fruitcake.''

the police, upon assessing the scene, decided they were out of their jurisdiction (or league), and left without making arrests. but, the bill passed.

now, the kids over at eschaton, who feel that fascistic behaviors deserve smart-ass responses, are suggesting that everyone mail bill thomas a fruitcake. they provide rep. thomas's address, and links to mail order fruit cakes.

but we wonder if a meme, like a child, is a success when it leaves the nest and flies on its own out there in the real world (ok, we guess that's really a bird, not a child; we suppose it's confusing to force a metaphor into a simile, but probably not as confusing as irrelevant parathetical phrases in a musing about social intercourse while talking about deconstructing grammar in the first place, n'est ce pais?) (huh?)

in other words, as if we haven't already used enough words on this subject, shouldn't we be happy that our phrase has become part of the blogging subculture, so much so that it's now unattributable, and therefor authentic?

no!

we want the links, and the recognition, dammit! come on, kos, we link to you guys enough! as dr. evil would say, throw us a frickin' bone, here!

it's bad enough that the subs over at eschaton use "awol" without even a nod towards us. we are petulant and spoiled, a very despotic about our words, even more so than the rev. mr. dodson's humpty dumpty, and we will take our words and go home if we aren't placated!

so there!

ok. we have finished our tantrum now, and will return to our regularly scheduled adulthood, currently in progress...

newsday is saying that intelligence reports on iraq's weapons capabilities were "a problematic footnote" during the clinton administration, but under awol's term, grew to seven times their size, based on which way the "political winds" were blowing.

although not stating that the cia actually "cooked the books," several former top intelligence officials do posit that the cia began writing iraq arms intelligence reports for "the consumers" -- the people in the administration.

"i'm afraid that the u.s. intelligence community, particularly the cia ... is sometimes quite sensitive to the political winds," said greg thielmann, who retired in september as a senior intelligence official at the state department.

thielmann, who is critical of what he says has been an administration proclivity to exaggerate intelligence to support the war in iraq, said that changes in tone and content in the current reports refute the white house argument that there has been consistency in the claims over the past two administrations.

once again, kids, it's not really a lie if they don't catch you at it.

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